head to head · open source
bbs-go vs scoold
bbs-go has 3,479 GitHub stars, 701 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped 26 days ago. scoold has 922 stars, 227 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. bbs-go leads on adoption by 277% (3,479 vs 922 stars). bbs-go is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; scoold is written in Java under Apache-2.0. bbs-go has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, scoold 25%. scoold was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (forum, q-and-a, questions-and-answers), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| bbs-go | scoold | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.5K | ★ 922 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-08-25 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 701 | ⑂ 227 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick bbs-go if
- You weight community size — 3.5K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick scoold if
- You want the scoold feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and scoold fits your workflow better
About bbs-go
bbs go is a lightweight community and Q&A platform for forums, knowledge bases, and discussions. It lives in the self hosted community platform ecosystem, combining questions, posts, articles, comments, votes, tags, and nodes. The project is offered under the GPL 3.0 license, and its topics include golang, react, forum, qna, community, and discussion.
read the full bbs-go overview →
About scoold
Scoold is an Apache 2.0 licensed, self hostable Q&A and knowledge sharing platform for teams and organizations that want a Stack Overflow style space for internal questions and answers.
read the full scoold overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is bbs-go or scoold more popular?
bbs-go has 3,479 GitHub stars and scoold has 922. bbs-go has the larger community by that measure.
Are bbs-go and scoold free?
Both are open source. bbs-go is licensed under GPL-3.0 and scoold under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between bbs-go and scoold?
bbs-go is written in TypeScript and scoold in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, bbs-go or scoold?
Choose bbs-go if you want the larger community (3,479 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose scoold if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.